⁴ “I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the ^(F)children of harlotry.
⁵ For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
^(G)Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’

⁶ “Therefore, behold,
^(H)I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And ^[e]wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
⁷ She will ^[f]chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
^(I)‘I will go and return to my ^(J)first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
⁸ For she did not ^(K)know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.

⁹ “Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰ Now ^(L)I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
^11 (M)I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.

¹² “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
¹³ I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

¹⁶ “And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ^[h]‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ^[i]‘My Master,’
¹⁷ For ^(Q)I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
¹⁸ In that day I will make a ^(R)covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle ^(S)I will shatter from the earth,
To make them ^(T)lie down safely.

¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And ^(U)you shall know the Lord.

²¹ “It shall come to pass in that day
That ^(V)I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
²² The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer ^[j]Jezreel.

“I remember you,
The kindness of your ^(A)youth,
The love of your betrothal,
^(B)When you ^[a]went after Me in the wilderness,
In a land not sown.
^3 (C)Israel was holiness to the Lord,
^(D)The firstfruits of His increase.
^(E)All that devour him will offend;
Disaster will ^(F)come upon them,” says the Lord.’ ”

^(G)“What injustice have your fathers found in Me,
That they have gone far from Me,
^(H)Have followed ^[b]idols,
And have become idolaters?
⁶ Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord,
Who ^(I)brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
Who led us through ^(J)the wilderness,
Through a land of deserts and pits,
Through a land of drought and the shadow of death,
Through a land that no one crossed
And where no one dwelt?’
⁷ I brought you into ^(K)a bountiful country,
To eat its fruit and its goodness.
But when you entered, you ^(L)defiled My land
And made My heritage an abomination.
⁸ The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
And those who handle the ^(M)law did not know Me;
The rulers also transgressed against Me;
^(N)The prophets prophesied by Baal,
And walked after things that do not profit.

⁹ “Therefore ^(O)I will yet ^[c]bring charges against you,” says the Lord,
“And against your children’s children I will bring charges.
¹⁰ For pass beyond the coasts of ^[d]Cyprus and see,
Send to ^[e]Kedar and consider diligently,
And see if there has been such a ^(P)thing.
^11 (Q)Has a nation changed its gods,
Which are ^(R)not gods?
^(S)But My people have changed their Glory
For what does not profit.
¹² Be astonished, O heavens, at this,
And be horribly afraid;
Be very desolate,” says the Lord.
¹³ “For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the ^(T)fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

¹⁴ “Is Israel ^(U)a servant?
Is he a homeborn slave?
Why is he plundered?
^15 (V)The young lions roared at him, and growled;
They made his land waste;
His cities are burned, without inhabitant.
¹⁶ Also the people of ^[f]Noph and ^(W)Tahpanhes
Have ^[g]broken the crown of your head.
^17 (X)Have you not brought this on yourself,
In that you have forsaken the Lord your God
When ^(Y)He led you in the way?
¹⁸ And now why take ^(Z)the road to Egypt,
To drink the waters of ^(AA)Sihor?
Or why take the road to ^(AB)Assyria,
To drink the waters of ^[h]the River?
¹⁹ Your own wickedness will ^(AC)correct you,
And your backslidings will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing
That you have forsaken the Lord your God,
And the ^[i]fear of Me is not in you,”
Says the Lord God of hosts.

²⁰ “For of old I have ^(AD)broken your yoke and burst your bonds;
And ^(AE)you said, ‘I will not ^[j]transgress,’
When ^(AF)on every high hill and under every green tree
You lay down, ^(AG)playing the harlot.
²¹ Yet I had ^(AH)planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
How then have you turned before Me
Into ^(AI)the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
²² For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,
Yet your iniquity is ^(AJ)marked^[k] before Me,” says the Lord God.